Along with social and economic development, people pay more attention to the quality of life. And, vehicles fitted with retractable hard tops become increasingly popular. Such vehicle roofs should ensure the sealed condition in the closed position in order to have all-weather suitability. Also, the roofs should be safe and stable during operation.
Compared with vehicles fitted with at least triple-collapsed roofs, vehicles fitted with double-collapsed roofs are simpler in configuration, but they need longer trunks to accommodate them. But, it is more difficult to drive a vehicle with longer trunks. Thus, a roof retracting device is needed to retract a longer roof into a trunk as short as possible and ensure the sealing performance.
A retractable hard top is disclosed in Chinese patent publication No. CN1293122A. The retractable hard top comprises an upper roof section and a rear roof section which is connected to the upper roof section via a rod assembly. When the roof is pivoted into the retracted position, the upper roof section can move into the interior of the rear roof section and retracts into the accommodation space together with the rear roof section. This patent does not take into account the sealing performance when the roof is in the closed and retracted position.
A retractable hard top of vehicle is disclosed in Chinese patent No. CN2880565Y. The hard top comprises a foundation, a first rod which is connected to the front of the foundation, a second rod which is connected to the rear of foundation, and a third rod which is connected between the first rod and the second rod. The second rod comprises a rear rod and a front rod connected with the rear rod. During operation, the hydraulic system actuates the roof to move between the closed position in which the roof is resting on the frame and the retracted position in which the roof retracts into a roof accommodation space. The patent also does not refer to a mechanism used to ensure sealing performance. Therefore, the vehicle fitted with the hard top does not meet the esthetic and aerodynamic needs.
Moreover, a retractable roof device and a vehicle fitted with the device are disclosed in the Chinese patent publication No. CN1750952A. The retractable roof device comprises a rear cover. The rear cover comprises a rear shelf and two closure flaps positioned on both sides of the rear shelf. The rear cover can be opened in order to make space for the passage of the roof and the guiding means of the roof when the roof is displaced between the closed position and the retracted position. And, the rear cover can conceal the gap when the roof is in the closed position or in the detracted position. The rear cover operates together with the roof. In detail, the extension of the guiding means of the roof causes rotation of a cam of a principal axis. Then the cam actuates the rear cover to move via a L-shaped lever. With continuous rotation of the guiding means of the roof, the extension of the guiding means comes into contact with a pulley nested on the principal axis and causes the pulley to rotate. The rotation of the pulley generates a tractive force on a cable which is fixed to the pulley. At the other end of the cable, this tractive force acts on an actuating mechanism of the closure flaps and further causes opening or closing of the closure flaps. But a vehicle fitted with this retractable roof device has many disadvantages. First, the fact that the start points of the parts are not concurrent and the cable comes out of the preset track result in damages such as a rupture of the rear shelf and stopage of the roof during operation. Second, the retractable roof device is complicated in configuration and needs to be manufactured and assembled with high accuracy. Third, it is difficult to adjust the relation between the trunk cover and the roof Fourth, the operation of the retractable roof device is not stable.